Young women using art to turn STEM into STEAM

BY Joanna Leslie | 02-May-2016

From May 16 to 19, six young Indigenous women from Wagga Wagga and another six from Kempsey will travel to Sydney to build upon skills learnt throughout their engagement with the media arts focused dLab National Program. The camp, called ‘Movin’ Up, is designed to expose the students to tertiary and further education using creativity as the foundation for enhanced interest and understanding in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

From May 16 to 19, six young Indigenous women from Wagga Wagga and another six from Kempsey will travel to Sydney to build upon skills learnt throughout their engagement with the media arts focused dLab National Program. The camp, called ‘Movin’ Up, is designed to expose the students to tertiary and further education using creativity as the foundation for enhanced interest and understanding in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

Having successfully secured a Westpac Foundation Community Grant in 2015, dLux MediaArts is working with members of its networks to maximise the impact of this camp. Kempsey Shire Council and Wagga Wagga City Council have generously supplied funding to ensure the participants are able to travel to Sydney to participate. Furthermore, The National Centre for Indigenous Excellence will be accommodating the students and their teachers while Nura Gili, IndigiLab and The Michael Crouch Innovation Centre will be helping to program the two-day engagement.

Students will learn first-hand about pathways to university, experience workshops in 3D printing, basic circuitry and design thinking and work in teams to track their carbon footprints and plan projects for their communities throughout the engagement.

dLux MediaArts began the dLab National Program in 2011 as a way of bringing new educational experiences in art and science to young people in regional and remote communities across Australia. The intention of the program is to re-ignite a passion for learning in disengaged young people, and to increase science literacy, particularly among young women.

dLux MediaArts is a not-for-profit charity creating programs designed to generate a deeper understanding in media arts and technology.

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